As was previously reported, it appears that Peterson never had a chance to meet his son. Sources familiar with the situation told TMZ that Peterson immediately offered to help out in any way he could when he was made aware that he was the boy’s father a few months ago. Once the DNA test came back positive, he is said to have “supercharged his efforts” to become a part of his son’s life.

Peterson had planned to meet the child within the next couple of weeks but instead had to rush to South Dakota to meet his son while he was on life support. He will reportedly fly to South Dakota for the funeral this week and plans to keep in contact with the boy’s mother in the future.

Thus far, there have been no indications that Peterson did anything wrong. This wasn’t a case of a professional athlete being an absentee father or “deadbeat dad” or whatever else that obnoxious column accused Peterson of being. Maybe he wasn’t as careful as he could have been when he had a sexual encounter with the boy’s mother, but mistakes happen. It sounds like there is no way he could have known he had a son until he was informed just recently.

And for what it’s worth, what type of guilt do you think AP is feeling? You don’t think he wonders if he could have saved his son’s life if he knew he existed sooner? What happened with the boy is a tragedy. Aside from Joseph Patterson, the man accused of murdering the child, no one deserves to have the finger pointed their way.